1. The Walking Dead — Maybe the best episode of the entire series’ run, this week’s The Walking Dead introduced a new kind of fear, and now that the series’ most annoying characters have been killed off, the fear is even more heightened because it has the potential to take one or more of the characters with whom we’ve become truly emotionally invested. Just don’t let it be Lil Ass Kicker. I don’t think I could stomach it. (See TK’s review).

3. Homeland — After what appeared for 45 minutes to be another annoying, irksome, boring continuation of a slumping season three, the last few minutes of “Game On” changed everything with a twist that I never saw coming. It doesn’t improve the Dana plotline, but the Carrie plotline was good enough that I can forgive the last two episodes. (See Cindy’s recap)

4. The Mindy Project — This is as perfect an episode of Mindy as we could ever expect: Kevin Smith being his hilariously self-deprecating self (in a cameo the Internet somehow didn’t spoil for me), Dr. C’s brilliant naked art show, and Ginsberg performing Katy Perry on a ukelele, the way it should be performed. (See Joanna’s GIFcap)

5. Sons of Anarchy — A brilliant return to early season form, this week’s episode of Sons of Anarchy did something the show has’t done in a very long while: It had fun. Jax was grinning. Bobby was hugging. Gemma was sassing. The D.A. went full hood, and Venus Van Dam brought the cleavage. It was one hell of a crowd-pleasing episode. (See my Uproxx recap)

6. Masters of Sex — The theme of this week’s episode was “Men are terrible,” and by the end of the episode, I felt that intimately. Bill Masters is a dick. Ethan Haas is a belligerent drunk, Bill Master’s Dad was an abusive a**hole, and and the patient in this episode felt compelled to have her tubes tied to that she couldn’t have any more kids for her husband to beat. I’d like to think that men in general are better people than they were in the ’50s, and for the most part, I think they are, but local news stories often suggest otherwise. (See my recap)

7. Boardwalk Empire — Jeffrey Wright’s Dr. Narcisse is proving himself to be even more evil, cunning, and manipulative than we could’ve imagine, but right now, it’s the Johnny Torio, O’Banion. and Al Capone business in Chicago that I am finding most compelling. I also don’t dislike the Willie plotline as much as most people. Willie may be a little Dana Brody, but he brings out the good in Nucky. I’m also very interested in seeing where this Margaret/Arnold Rothstein subplot is headed. (See Josh’s Uproxx recap)

8. The New Girl — Amanda Dobbins over on Vulture argues that the Nick and Jess relationship isn’t working, but I completely disagree: I think Jess is bringing all of Nick’s neuroses to the surface, and his neuroses are a lot of fun to play around with, and I especially appreciate that Nick and Jess always adorably overcome these personal obstacles in the end. (See Joanna’s GIFcap)

9. American Horror Story — Not quite as good as the bonkers pilot, but Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, and Angela Bassett (and her minotaur lover) continue to steal this season away from the teenagers, although the Franken-boy is hysterically fun. (See Joanna’s recap)

10. Scandal — I’m glad they took a small break from the President and Olivia’s ongoing relationship problems to focus on a case again (because Darby Stanchfield, Columbus Short, Katie Lowes, and Guillermo Diaz are still play my favorite characters in this series, and they’ve been pushed to the background of late), but the real star so far this season is Olivia’s Dad, Eli, who can yell with perfect anunciation better than any character on television. When Huck says he’s been brainwashed by Eli, I believe that sh*t. (See Sarah’s recap)

Dustin is the founder and co-owner of Pajiba. You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba.